Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the economic recovery "is close to faltering" and the central bank is prepared to take further steps to support it.

"It is clear that overall, the recovery from the crisis has been much less robust than we had hoped," he told Congress Tuesday. "Recent revisions of government data show the recession was even deeper and the recovery even weaker than previous estimated."

Bernanke said poor consumer confidence and a weak job market have hurt the economy.